Today in Sports – Rafael Nadal beats Roger Federer to win his record-equaling 6th French Open title
June 5
1884 — James McLaughlin becomes the first jockey to win three straight Belmont Stakes when he rides Panique to victory. He won with George Kinney (1883) and Forester (1882). McLaughlin repeats his feat in 1886-88. McLaughlin’s triple is matched by jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. in 1984.
1925 — Willie McFarlane beats Bobby Jones by one stroke in the second round of a playoff to capture the U.S. Open. Macfarlane shoots a 291 at Worcester (Mass.) Country Club.
1927 — Johnny Weissmuller sets 100-yard & 200-yard free-style swim record.
1937 — War Admiral, ridden by Charles Kurtsinger, wins the Triple Crown with a three-length victory over Sceneshifter in the Belmont Stakes.
1943 — Count Fleet, ridden by Johnny Longden, wins the Triple Crown by 25 lengths in the Belmont Stakes. Count Fleet goes at off at 1-20 odds in a race with no place or show betting.
1952 — Jersey Joe Walcott scores a 15-round unanimous decision over Ezzard Charles in Philadelphia to retain the world heavyweight title.
1961 — The newly formed American Basketball League adopts the 3-point field goal.
1977 — The Portland Trail Blazers hold off the Philadelphia 76ers 109-107 to win the NBA championship in six games. Portland becomes the first team in the 31-year history of the league to win four straight after losing the first two games.
1985 — Steve Cauthen wins the Epsom Derby aboard Slip Anchor and became the only American jockey to win both the English Derby and Kentucky Derby. Cauthen had ridden Affirmed to victory in the 1978 Kentucky Derby.
1993 — Julie Krone guides Colonial Affair to victory in the Belmont Stakes, becoming the first female jockey to win a Triple Crown race.
1994 — Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Sergi Bruguera produce the best day of tennis in Spanish history. Sanchez Vicario beats Mary Pierce 6-4, 6-4 in the French Open final and Bruguera retains his title by defeating another Spaniard, Alberto Berasategui, 6-3, 7-5, 2-6, 6-1.
1999 — Steffi Graf wins her sixth French Open title and her first Grand Slam championship in almost three years, beating top-ranked Martina Hingis 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.
1999 — Charismatic loses his bid to become the 12th Triple Crown winner when he fractures his left front cannon bone and sesamoid while finishing third to Lemon Drop Kid in the Belmont Stakes.
2004 — Smarty Jones loses his Triple Crown bid and his perfect record when Birdstone runs him down near the finish of a thrilling Belmont Stakes. Birdstone, a 36-1 long shot ridden by Edgar Prado, returns $74, $14 and $8.60.
2005 — Spanish teenager Rafael Nadal beats unseeded Mariano Puerta of Argentina in four sets to win the French Open men’s singles title. The No. 4-seeded Nadal becomes the youngest men’s Grand Slam champion since Pete Sampras won the U.S. Open at 19 in 1990.
2011 — Rafael Nadal wins his record-equaling sixth French Open title, beating Roger Federer 7-5, 7-6 (3), 5-7, 6-1 in the final.
2016 — Novak Djokovic becomes the first man in nearly a half-century to win four consecutive major championships and finally earned elusive French Open title to complete a career Grand Slam, beating Andy Murray 3-6, 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.
2021 — Luis Saez rides Essential Quality to wins the 153rd Belmont Stakes.
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